course that has definitely survived the test of time and a who’s who among golf’s great champions have played. A young Tom Watson honed his skills at Belvedere while on summer family vacations. Watson and his father played their final round together here. I was told that Tom Watson had come to play the course by himself, just three weeks before my visit and he still has a locker in the members’ clubhouse. Belvedere’s signature hole is № 16 and the assistant pro told me an interesting story. When Ken Venturi was playing a Senior PGA Tour event in Traverse City in the early 1990’s , he came into the tiny white clapboard pro shop and announced that a friend had told him he just had to see the 16th hole, a classic short par 4. “Who’s your friend?” the head pro asked. “Gene Sarazen,” Venturi replied. He was promptly taken to № 16. Ohio Golf Journal
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